By the late 1980s, increasing light pollution in Nanjing meant Purple Mountain was no longer viable as a working observatory. It has since shifted its focus to public education, with much of the actual scientific work being carried out in its five branch observatories located at Qinghai (in Delingha), Ganyu, Xuyi, Honghe (in Jiamusi), and Qingdao.

The Minor Planet Center credits the observatory, simply referred to as Nanking, with the discovery of 149 minor planets between 1955 and 1983, while the observatory's PMO NEO Survey Program is credited with a total of 578 discoveries between 2006 and 2013.[1]

^As of 2016, the Minor Planet Center lists 532 discovered bodies by the PMO NEO Survey Program between 2006 and 2013. However, the MPC lists another 3 discoveries by the PMO Neo Survey Program for 2007. Minor Planet Center – Minor Planet Discoverers